The NFL Draft is a few weeks away, and now that most of the prominent free agents are signed with their new teams, several analysts are coming up with blunt takes, and one of them has involved the Las Vegas Raiders.
Ever since the end of the 2025 season, the Raiders have been on the clock, holding the No. 1 pick. The question is whether Las Vegas should punt on drafting Fernando Mendoza and look for a king’s ransom in draft picks from another team.
While this worked out for the Chicago Bears, who traded out of the No. 1 spot in 2023 and then secured the top pick in 2024 due to this trade with the Carolina Panthers to draft Caleb Williams, there’s no guarantee it will work out the same way for the Raiders.
As a result, ESPN’s Louis Riddick is urging the Raiders to keep the No. 1 pick and make the selection, which would likely be Mendoza.
“I’m not [trading the No. 1 pick],” Riddick said on the March 25 edition of “Get Up.” “[The Raiders have] things lined up in such a way that they can support a guy like Fernando Mendoza… There is no way I am moving off of him. I am working my rear end off to make sure that I support him with everything else that he needs.”
Fernando Mendoza Brings Too Much to Pass Up On
Moreover, Riddick explained that Mendoza’s intangibles and what he brings to a team are too much for any team to pass up on, which is why the Raiders should hold onto the pick and take the player.
“Look, when you look at how this kid is wired and what he did at Cal, how he played at Cal, what he did when he got to Indiana with coach Curt Cignetti, the way in which he leveled up the rest of the people around him, the way in which he played the game at a super high level, there is no way I am moving off of taking him at this point, unless there is some kind of information out there that I do not know about,“ Riddick added.
Chris Canty Believes Raiders Should Trade No. 1 Pick
The talk of the Silver and Black potentially trading the No. 1 pick started with ESPN Radio host Chris Canty. The former NFL player believes that, because there’s no QB, it’s a slam dunk to go No. 1 overall, so it’s best to trade out of the spot.
“Whether or not you think Ty Simpson or Fernando Mendoza is the best quarterback prospect in this draft is subjective, but what [ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky] just pointed out tells me there is no can’t-miss quarterback prospect in this draft,“ Canty said on the March 23 edition of UNSPORTSMANLIKE. “If that’s the case, then the Las Vegas Raiders need to hold an auction for the No. 1 overall pick.
“If you have a quarterback prospect, whether it’s Mendoza or Ty Simpson, No. 1 on your board, and it’s debatable whether or not you can mess this kid up, then you should probably consider trading down if there’s a team that’s willing to give you a king’s ransom to move up to No. 1 to take either one of them, whether that ends up being the New York Jets, the Arizona Cardinals, or the Cleveland Browns.”
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